STATEHOUSE – House Bill (HB) 1348 authored by State Rep. Tom Dermody (R-LaPorte) and co-authored by State Rep. Randy Truitt (R-West Lafayette) passed out of the House with a 77 to 18 vote earlier this week. The bill incentivizes college students to graduate in four years and will now go to the Senate for further consideration.

“A decade ago, college students hoped to acquire their degree in four years. Today, with 44 percent of those students actually graduating after six years, four year degrees are becoming less of the norm,” said Rep. Dermody. “After meeting with many college students and various school representatives, it is becoming clear that students now consider five or even six years to be an acceptable timeframe to obtain a degree.”

“I authored House Bill 1348 to incentivize students to graduate on time and reward those with high scholastic standing."

The bill makes various changes to the Frank O’Bannon Grant and 21st Century Scholars Program, encouraging students to maintain a four year graduation pace by basing financial assistance on classes completed rather than classes registered for. It also extends that assistance into the summer months.

HB 1348 provides that the Commission for Higher Education may offer an incentive based award centered on student performance and increases financial assistance for students that complete 15 credit hours or more per college semester.

"Education has been, and will continue to always be, a top priority," said Rep. Truitt. "Our goal is to align incentives with performance. This is critical for success because the impact these students have on our economy is significant. Anything we can do to encourage a timely completion of degree work will also impact their debt load, and that is critical for future success.”

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